GREENFIELD — This is what Kathleen “Kat” Arce of Greenfield looked like before getting a makeover from a beauty expert on the nationally syndicated Rachel Ray Show. What Arce looks like now will be televised this morning on Ray’s show, which airs at 9 a.m. on Channel 40.

“This is my 15 minutes of fame,” Arce said, on the eve of her national television debut.”It’s a little bit embarassing, actually.”

Arce, 44, wrote to the show’s website, asking for a makeover. “I started going gray when I was 16,” she explained. “I sent the picture in, and they called me back.”

Arce and her best friend, Angel Cox, also of Greenfield, got an all-expenses paid trip to New York City, where they were put up in a Hilton in New York’s fashion district. The first night, they were driven to the television studio where the show’s beauty expert, Gretta Monahan, had Arce try many outfits. Then Arce and Cox spent the next day at the studio, while Arce got a change of hairdo, makeup and even lessens in how to walk in the super-high heels that Monahan had chosen for her.

“It was fun,” said Arce. “The actual taping was a little nerve-wracking. I had a guy with a camera coming at me all day long.”

Arce said a stylist cut her long hair to about shoulder-length and brought it back to the dark shade she had before it started turning gray.

“They definitely improved my hair,” she remarked. “They got it looking healthier than it’s ever looked. A lot of people told me they love the hair. I haven’t worn it in a ponytail since the show.”

The makeover included hair, manicure, clothing, shoes and an interview with Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall regarding her health history and advice on eating right.

Arce said many of the items Monahan picked out for her to try on were garments she would not have picked for herself, if she saw them in a store. But most looked very good on her.

“Their goal is to take you out of your comfort zone, which they definitely did,” she said. The dress she wears at the end of the makeover is purple, but Arce said she hasn’t been allowed to even wear that dress again until after this morning’s show, according to her confidentiality agreement.

And she loves those shoes.

“I’m already taller than everybody, and they put me into these tall shoes. I do love those shoes. They’re extremely high,” she said.

On the way home, on the train, Arce was looking at some of the photos she was given of the makeover, and she didn’t recognize herself in one of them.

“One of the most common complaints we hear from our viewers is that they look and feel older than they are,” said Kathleen Shevlin, a publicist for the show. “So when we heard from a viewer who says she wants to turn back the hands of time, we knew we wanted to help her out.”

Shevlin said the show wouldn’t release an “after” photo of Arce’s makeover until the show has been broadcast.

The Rachel Ray Show is an hour-long talk show that features celebrity interviews, lifestyle issues and ends with a cooking segment with Ray, a famous chef , the author of several cookbooks and the host of three Food Network series.